Authorities in Tshwane are still investigating the cause of a fire that engulfed the Phelindaba Brewery near Atteridgeville, in Pretoria West in the early hours of this morning. The City of Tshwane’s Emergency Services Department says it immediately dispatched firefighting resources from nearby several fire stations (Central Fire Station, Philip Nel Park Fire Station, Atteridgeville Fire Station, Rosslyn Fire Station, Silverton Fire Station and Wonderboom Fire Station) to the scene.
These included two fire engines, a ladder, two water tankers, a mobile command unit, a district commander’s unit and a video unit.
The City’s Acting Public Information and Liaison officer Lindsay Zwelithini Mnguni says on arrival, the firefighters found that the decanting area of the brewery was well alight and the fire had also spread to the canteen building.
“Firefighters immediately established an incident command and began with firefighting operations. These involved aggressive firefighting and protecting the other nearby exposed buildings. They managed to swiftly extinguish the fire and save a large portion of the building in the canteen, where only about a quarter of the building was affected” said Mnguni
“They brought the fire at the decanting area under control and continued with cooling down operations as the main structure and the roof had collapsed, creating major voids from the iron sheets,” he said.
Several more firefighting resources from Hatfield Fire Station, Heuweloord Fire Station and Innesdale Fire Station were dispatched by the ECC as backup due to the complexity of the incident.
He says the Tshwane Metro Police Department, Gauteng Province Emergency Medical Services, the South African Police Service and other role-players were on the scene and assisted with incident management.
“One firefighter sustained serious injuries to his leg when he slipped during firefighting operations. He was immediately treated on the scene and transported to a private hospital”.
The fire was completely extinguished in the early hours of this morning, (Sunday, 05 January 2025)
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
